Blue Devils overmatched by No. 5 Razorbacks

Central Connecticut infielder TT Bowens hits a home run during the eighth inning of an NCAA Tournament game against Arkansas on Friday, May 31, 2019, in Fayetteville.

— Central Connecticut coach Charlie Hickey knew his team was going to have to play a perfect game to have a chance to beat No. 5 Arkansas on Friday in the Fayetteville Regional.

That did not happen as the Blue Devils fell 11-5 before 9,868 fans at Baum Walker Stadium.

“I thought it was a terrific environment,” Hickey said. “Obviously a great crowd. We were going to have to play a perfect game. Unfortunately we didn’t come up with that today, but we battled hard. I’m proud of our team. We competed. There was a couple of spots where we were trying to hold on.”

The Blue Devils (30-22) were playing before the the largest crowd of the year, according to sophomore TT Bowens, who homered and had all of this team’s 5 RBI.

“It’s definitely an amazing experience,” Bowens said. “Being at a smaller Northeastern school and being able to earn the privilege of coming down and competing with these teams, it’s definitely a very good experience, being able to play in this atmosphere. Those fans were amazing. There was what, 10,000 or 12,000 of them all screaming and yelling the whole game. It was just, you can never recreate that feeling.”

Bowens noted that the crowd two hours before the game was as big as CCSU had played before.

“I agree with what he said,” Hickey said. “It was awesome. Even in (batting practice) there was more people than we typically see at a game. So just being there and seeing that was awesome to play in front of and it was an electric atmosphere.”

Hickey was not surprised that Arkansas broke out of its hitting slump. The Razorbacks had lost five of seven coming into the game.

“I mean, again, they’re not the fifth-ranked team in the country for no reason,” Hickey said. “Again, we just had to have balls hit at us. But they were aggressive and they got up there and took advantage of some counts. To their credit, I was just looking, I think they had 17 base runners in eight innings. That’s gonna put a lot of pressure on you. They broke through when they needed to.”

Hickey believes Arkansas center fielder Dominic Fletcher made the job much easier for starting pitcher Connor Noland and relievers Kevin Kopps and Marshall Denton.

Noland allowed two hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"I thought he (Noland) was very efficient,” Hickey said. “He threw enough breaking balls....I thought we put some good swings on him and hit some balls hard. Their center fielder made some balls look awfully easy that I thought were a little more difficult to catch."

Arkansas jumped out to a 2-0 lead after Heston Kjerstad and Jack Kenley led off the second inning with singles.

Central Connecticut cut that lead in half in the top of the fourth before Kjerstad launched his 15th home run of the season in the bottom of the inning off Blue Devils starter Brandon Fox (3-6) to put the Razorbacks ahead 3-1.

“Kjerstad’s a really good hitter,” Fox said. “ I tried to work him away; didn’t work. I came back in and that was the one he hit out. I think overall as a lineup, I know they were cold in the SEC Tournament, but they came out ready to play today. They were aggressive and they hit some good pitches.”

Arkansas poured it on with three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to go up 9-2 before Bowens hit a three-run homer off Denton in the eighth to cut it to 9-5.

“Well, there was runners first and second with only one out, so their intentions were definitely to get me to hit into a double play,” Bowens said. “I could tell he just missed his spot and left it over the plate and that was the goal, just to hit mistakes today. He gave me one and I got into it.”

It was a big moment for Bowens, who has had two knee surgeries in two years.

“Him coming back halfway through the year changed our team,” Hickey said. “He does what he’s capable of doing and that’s part of the reason why we’re here. He has a presence in the middle of our order to, with one swing, get us three runs. Unfortunately at the time, it was 9-2.”

The Razorbacks had three errors in the sixth inning, but the Blue Devils could only come with one run.

“We needed to stick closer to them, obviously, to put some pressure back on their shoulders," Hickey said.

“When they separated a little bit, I was proud of our team that we stuck around and kept battling and battling. Unfortunately we lost today, but I’m awfully proud of our team.”

Ezell’s ninth homer of the year was a two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth that capped the scoring.

“I think he can build on this and I think the opportunity we had two years ago down at Fort Worth helps some of these guys relax and play today,” Hickey said. “ Like I said, I’m proud of them and happy for them that they came out here and played. It’s a lot to ask 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds to do for the first time, to play in front of a great crowd and a great atmosphere, but I think they enjoyed it. When they go to bed tonight, they’re going to be proud of themselves.”

The Blue Devils will play Saturday at noon in an elimination games against the loser of Friday night's TCU-California game.